78 Chapter 2
Coding changes: End Date changed from December 31, 1917. Outcome changed
from Compromise.
MID#1169
Dispute Number: 1169
Date(s): October 1927 to February 14, 1928
Participants: 91 Honduras/90 Guatemala
Outcome (and Settlement): Compromise (Negotiated)
Fatalities: 1–25 deaths
Narrative: Both Guatemala and Honduras claimed land running from Cerro Brujo to
the Gulf of Honduras, but the most contentious piece of territory seemed to be around
the Motagua River. The United States attempted to mediate the 1917 Guatemalan-
Honduran conflict beginning in May 1918, but it never attempted to delimit the
boundary. In 1922 and 1923 Central American countries signed an agreement that
established an International Central American Tribunal to which they could submit
disputes, and in August 1923 Honduras asked the president of the United States to
arbitrate the dispute, but Guatemala declined.
Then, in late 1927 and early 1928, Guatemalan and Honduran troops clashed several
times in the Motagua valley, the same place they had clashed 10 years previously. On
July 16, 1930, Honduras and Guatemala finally submitted their dispute to the tribunal
they had helped create in 1923, and in 1933 the tribunal delimited the territory.
90 Guatemala/92 El Salvador
MID#1533
Dispute Number: 1533
Date(s): January 1876 to May 8, 1876
Participants: 90 Guatemala/92 El Salvador
Outcome (and Settlement): Victory for side A (Imposed)
Fatalities: >999 deaths
Narrative: Honduras, not an interstate system member at the time, was the focal point
of this war between Guatemala and El Salvador. In 1872, the fledgling liberal regimes
of Guatemala and El Salvador allied together to overthrow the conservative regime
in Honduras and install a liberal head of state. They were successful, prompting all
three sides to enter into an alliance to preserve their liberal regimes. The leader of the
overthrown conservative regime in Honduras, Jose Maria Medina, returned in 1876 to
attempt to reestablish his position in Honduras. Guatemala welcomed him, thinking
that the situation in Honduras was not liberal enough. El Salvador changed sides on
Guatemala, and attacked Medina and his troops. Guatemala eventually joined Hondu-
ras in supporting another contender, Marco Aurelio Soto, as he successfully assumed
power in Honduras. This led to a rupture of the alliance and of diplomatic relations.
Guatemala responded by declaring war on March 27, 1876, and sending troops
across the border to fight in El Salvador. They were successful. El Salvador sued for